Roy Cleveland Sullivan was an interesting man. I have not met him but I will always remember his story. He died when I was almost three years old, and no he doesn't know me but his story was something I will never forget. Roy Cleveland Sullivan was a different man. He was called the "Human Lightning Rod" having the outrageous misfortune of being struck by lightning a record 7 times and lived through each ordeal.
He was a US park ranger at the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. In 1942, Sullivan was hit for the first time when he was at the fire lookout tower.The lightning bolt struck him in a leg and he lost a nail on his big toe. The year was 1969 when he got struck again while he was driving his truck in a mountain road. It knocked him unconscious and burned his eyebrows. The following year wasn't exactly luckier for him either as he was struck again burning his left shoulder while he was on his front yard.
1972 came and he got struck again at the ranger station, burning his hair. This was a sudden turning point for him - he started carrying a bucket of water with him. August 7th of the following year, the bucket of water didn't come in handy as he was blasted out of his car by another strike and set his hair on fire once again.
While on a campground in June 5th of 1974, he noticed a cloud who seemed to follow him, tried to run away but he got struck by another bolt again injuring his ankle. On June 25th 1977, his last and final lightning strike occured while he was fishing - hospitalizing him for burns on his chest and stomach.
It may be hilarious and all to think that getting hit 7 times by a lightning is weird and amusing- after all according to the National Geographic's Flash Facts about Lightning, the odds of being struck in a lifetime is three-thousand to one. If the different events of "being struck by lightning" were statistically independent the chances of being struck seven times in a lifetime are about sixteen-septillion to one.
But the real tragedy of Roy Cleveland Sullivan was not because he got hit 7 times by a lightning. Less than two months before my 3rd birthday, on September 28, 1983 - Roy Cleveland Sullivan died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound reportedly distraught over unrequited love.
